John, I guess it is because we in a booming area with a new subdivision or strip mall going up daily and still there are more customers than stores. The parking lots are full consistently, so they can over charge and get away with it. Glenda I can not image a sell that big! Is it a one day sale? Ray, I think you are right...we may have tried too hard this year, and we started them a few weeks early, adding to the labor! There isn't a market open in April here, so we had to find a place to sell the plants and do additional advertising. We created a handout for each customer to take home, and a large notebook to show customers with a page dedicated to each variety, including it's story (If there is one), pictures if available, and the special qualities of the tomato. We have learned a lot this year, so next year we will be more efficient. We added lots of shelving and lights, mixed our own seed starting mix and transplant mix, and after the plants were 6 weeks old, we moved them out doors on sunny days, then back in for the night. How do your customers pre-order? Do you have a website?

Just to emphasize the point, but the Estler family claims that they first introduced what we know as Mortgage Lifter, before Charlie Byles of WV did, and there is documentation to say that's probably true. I much prefer Mortgage Lifter ( Estler) to Radiator Charlie's one and have offered seeds for it in my seed offer elsewhere. Other than that I agree with Dave that the best two heirlooms to grow in KY are those that a person likes, after growing and comparing several different varieties b'c in KY, as Gary will also tell you, you can successfully grow any variety you want to. it all comes down to personal taste and production of different varieties in any one season b'c weather can also affect taste and production as well. Liberty,Dave has also given you some suggestions about going to different seed source sites as well. TGS is a good one as is Gleckler's and I'd suggst Sandhill as well, and will, but they don't show pictures of varieties, but lsit over 400 varieties. As for acidic tomatoes, there aren't any. Almost all tomato varieties that have been tested have the same pH, with few exceptions. I know what you mean, though, and I'd call it an agressive taste. If you want me to list some that I think have an agreesive taste I can do that, but then if and when you grow them you find they don't, that's just the way it is with different tomato varieties, lots of variables as to performance and taste. Switching topic now, to get a twofer. LOL Cat Whisperer, I'm not sure what you meant below in saying that KB is the same as Box Car Willie only a different color b/c they aren't at all related: BOX CAR WILLIE (prolific, big, perfectly balanced excellent flavor) KELLOGG'S BREAKFAST (same as Box Car Willie, but yellow/orange) Joe Bratka's father bred the following and they aren't heirloom varieties: Box Car Willie Mule Team Pasture Great Divide Red Barn Joe found the seeds for these, already named , in a tool shed on his property. he couldn't germinate seeds for any of the varieties so sent them to me and I was able to germinate the above but always wondered what the three I couldn't germinate might have turned out to be. I think the last one, Red Barn , is one of the best but has been overlooked by growers. Carolyn

Hi Daryl, I was interested in 8 different varieties and just one plant of each. I *assumed*, probably erroneously, that each 4 plant cell tray is of the same variety. I should have contacted you for clarity. With this in mind I was pricing 8x 4" single plants. The cost of the 8 4" plants with one freebie would be $36. Box cost $3. The weight would be 12 lbs which the fedx site gave me a price of a whopping $52 for 2nd day shipping. That comes out to be 11.37 a plant which is a bit much. I'm not at all implying it's what you charge, it's the shipping quote that turned me off. I'm now getting some of my plants from a local person, but still have a few I haven't found locally. If you're able to customize the plants in the 4 plant cell tray, I'll definitely let you know what I'd like. I'm sorry for any confusion. And this year was ONLY supposed to be SIX specific tomato plants. I'm already up to 10 with 4 more I want.

I started seeds the first time this year and bought "Hydrofarm Jumpstart 2ft light T-5" for about $55 online. It comes with a stand and everything, I also bought Jiffy Peat Pelle starting kit, the kit was about $10 for 25 count, It is so simple and all I did was ad water (as directions stated to the pellets with other things). Then put the required amount of seeds in 2-3 I think it said and 2-3 weeks after I had seedlings. I then put them under my 2ft Jumpstart light and after a certain amount of time when they got the second leaves, I tore th netting off and I put them in red solo cups with a simple drain hole in MG potting mix. I am just trying to say for under $75 bucks or so you can do it by yourself and have many options for variety and how many you want even for backups. I am a newbie to this but i just wanted to let you know that it was really easy and not much space/cost required. - Mr Beno